Then I read in The Church of England Newspaper a report on John Pickering and he seemed to be being quite vigorously pilloried. It struck me that John had straightforward courage that was quite unusual and because I was in a theological minority in my own denomination, I immediately felt a kind of rapport with John Pickering; he seemed to be taking quite a stand that involved quite a bit of personal cost, so I dropped him a line and he responded very warmly. And I'm still coming here.

Does this sketch still ring true? Only partly. The English way of religion is on the way out. Our traditional religious culture is being radically reshaped, and it's happening surprisingly fast. Every fresh story about veils or crosses is chip-chip-chipping away at the religious culture we have taken for granted for centuries, and creating something new, something far more American.

The appointment to the church's senior post of a woman with so little experience and qualification, over a slate of candidates who had clearly been honing their CVs since seminary in the hope of such preferment, demands explanation. And the explanation surely is that Jeffers Schori is Woman for the Hour.

They could have found other ways less offensive to many fellow Episcopalians to address wrongs done to gays and lesbians while also understanding that their shrug of the shoulders about scripture could have serious, adverse consequences for Anglican brothers and sisters struggling for their very lives in Africa.